Second Trimester News

• Twin Rivers Talk • Shop With a Cop

• Christmas Band Concert • OWLS Fun Day • Ski Club • Inauguration Band Trip • Spelling Bee

Published by Room 213

On the afternoon of December 8, 2016, at Madawaska Elementary School there was a presentation by Twin Rivers safety committee about electrical safety. All students from grades 4-6 saw this presentation in the cafeteria. The presenter was Mr. Brad Kaherl, the president of the BCK Presentations. The presentation was about how to prevent getting electrocuted, and to stay away from substations and electricity plants. Mr. Kaherl's presentation had a mini town that showed problems and how to stay safe. Mr. Kaherl told students to let the electricians handle it. Mrs. Lise Pelletier, the Madawaska Elementary principal, stated, “I thought it was very exciting and everybody left with something, even the adults!”

• Valentine Exchange • Geography Bee

On December 18, the district Christmas band concert took place at the Madawaska Middle/High School Gymnasium. Mr. Ben Meiklejohn, the Madawaska Schools music teacher, organized all of the music, and the Band Boosters organized the meal. The meal was chicken stew. It’s a tradition for the band and chorus to perform a concert. The students’ parents and teachers watched the Christmas band concert. The 4th, 5th, and 6th grade chorus, and the 5th and 6th grade band, and the Madawaska Middle / High School band and marching band played in the Christmas band concert. The Madawaska Elementary 4th, 5th, and 6th grade chorus sang Christmas songs, and did a skit. The 5th and 6th grade band performed songs. Also the middle/high school band played some music, and marched around the gym with Christmas lights on their instruments. Mr. Meiklejohn stated, “Even though we had only a few weeks to practice, the students worked hard, but they needed to work even harder because they had less time.”

March 2017

On Friday, December 16, 2016, there was an event that took place at Mardens called “Shop With a Cop.” Officer Ross Dubois, the chief of police in Madawaska, Maine, and Mrs. Shirleen Gendreau, the guidance counselor, organized “Shop With A Cop” for students at Madawaska Elementary School to shop for their families for Christmas. Mrs. Gendreau stated, “The kids had a good experience with the cops. It was not only our chief of police that went with the students from Madawaska Elementary School, there were other policemen and policewomen. The kids also got to ride in the police and border patrol vehicles.” Once all the students from Madawaska Elementary School were done shopping for their families, Mr. Dubois brought the students back to the town police station and helped the students wrap their gifts for their families. When the kids were done wrapping their gifts, the officers treated them with pizza from Jeff's Pizza and cookies for lunch. This event was meant to give the students an opportunity to see policemen, policewomen and other town officials. Mrs. Shirleen Gendreau added, “This was such a great and successful event, that Officer Dubois plans on doing this again next year. He hopes to add more students to this shopping trip. Fundraising was also very successful, so they will already have a head start for next Christmas season.”

OWLS Fun Day occurred at Madawaska Elementary School on December 21, 2016. Mrs. Peggy Ruest, a third grade teacher, organized this day along with the PTA President Nicole Ayotte,the guidance counselor Shirleen Gendreau, and other helpers that made the popcorn. Different movies were set up for each grade level. Pre-k watched The Elf’s Story, k-1 watched Santa Buddies, grades 2-4 watched Prancer, and grades 5-6 watched Miracle on 34th Street. Everyone got popcorn and a water bottle. OWLS fun day was organized because Mrs. Ruest thought it would be nice to reward for them reward the kids for all the work they did during the first trimester. In her words, “It was a reward for them and a little break from school work.” Everyone can participate in this activity. Mrs Peggy Ruest said, “I think students really enjoy this day.”

Students at Madawaska Elementary School can take part in ski club. Mr. Dan Cyr, the physical education teacher, lets anybody from 3rd grade to 6th grade participate in ski club. The students ski the trails, go down Big and Little Bend, and everybody can go around the Owl Loop and Coon Loop. The trails are groomed for classical and skate skiing. Ski club takes place at the end of January until the beginning of March. Students ski on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 to 4:00 . There is a late bus provided for the students after ski club. Mr. Cyr says that ski club gets all the kids to be physically active during the long winter months, and it hopefully sparks cross country skiing for a lifetime. Mr. Cyr also stated, “The kids have a fun time skiing. A big thank you to Mr. Nelson and Mr. Colin Jandreau for making the ski trails possible.”

Students in Mrs. Jen Mazo's and Mrs. Jenn Sirois' 1st and kindergarten classrooms are participating in the Valentine Exchange, which they heard about through the "Positively Teaching" website. They needed to sign up to participate by January 3. Over 200 classrooms from all over the United States also participated Mrs. Sirois and Mrs. Mazo classes received their list of addresses of classes all over the U.S from Alaska to California, Texas, and Florida. They each created 21 Valentines. The kids created them and the teachers mailed them out with a personal letter about Madawaska Elementary School and the Town of Madawaska. They sent one to each of the schools on their list. They, in turn, received a letter and Valentine from their school. Mrs. Sirois says that it is a great way for the kids to learn about their country and how other kids live across the United States. Mrs. Sirois stated, "The kids have learned a lot about each school. Some schools are very large in population, like one school has 13 second grade classrooms! We only have two! We learned that some places see a lot of snow like us and others haven’t seen any since 2009. It’s been a great learning experience for all of us!"

Students from grades 6-12 Madawaska Middle/High School band were invited to play at President Donald Trump’s pre-inauguration activities in Washington D.C. on January 19, 2017. The band members and their parents worked very hard to organize the trip to D.C. Twenty seven students from grades 6 to 12 went on the trip including half a dozen chaperones. The group left on Monday, January 16th, and came back on Saturday, January 20th. The group took a school bus to Bangor and stayed at a hotel for the night. Then, the next day, they got ready to board a charter bus to Washington. When the group got to Washington they stayed in a mansion that they rented. Mr. Meiklejohn stated, “It was nice that we all got to stay all together in the same place.” The group toured sights, went to some war memorials, visited museums, met some senators, played in front of Donald Trump and others at the Lincoln Memorial, and saw the rest of the concert with V.I.P seating in the front. Some of the groups they saw were Three Doors Down and Toby Keith. There were fireworks at the end of the concert. They took the trip because it would be a good experience for the students and they wanted to perform on a national stage. Mr. Meiklejohn also stated, “The students in the band worked really hard to study the music. It was also really nice to see the parents and community be so supportive of us.”

On Thursday, January 26, at 1:00 PM, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders participated in a middle school spelling bee at the Madawaska Middle/High School library. Mr. Matthew Rossignol, a middle school language arts teacher, organized the activity. They started with 12 contestants, four from each of the grades, 6, 7, and 8. To get to the final two winners, they needed 30 rounds of competition. The bee started at 1:00, and every round was an elimination round. The spelling bee is held every year to stress the importance of good spelling, to teach students how to become good spellers, and to encourage students to become good spellers. Justin Pelletier was the winner, with Robbie Lausier the runner-up. Both are 8th graders. A 6th grader, Taylor Pelletier, came in 3rd place. Both the 1st and 2nd place finishers received a special certificate recognizing their status as winner and runner-up. They also get to participate in the county spelling bee in Fort Kent on Thursday, February 2nd. If they win at this bee, as Justin Pelletier did last year, they will then go to the state spelling bee at a later date. All contestants received a certificate of participation signed by Mr. Rossignol and Principal, Wayne Anderson. Mr. Rossignol added, “The two judges for the spelling bee were Mr. Vincent Vanier, the technology coordinator, and Mrs. Jan Lee, a high school educational technician. Also, a special thanks to Bonnie Tingley, Louise Albert, Gina Jandreau, Cai Bouley, and Connie Vanier, all 6th-8th grade teachers, for having classroom spelling bees and allowing students to qualify as contestants for the school-wide spelling bee.”

The middle school geography bee was held on Thursday, February 2, at the Madawaska Middle/High School gym. Mrs. Connie Vanier, a middle school teacher, organized the geography bee. The first round of the geography bee took place in each of the grades, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Each student had to answer twenty questions. The top scorers then competed for the top ten positions for the final round. This year Mason Ayotte, Aiden Albert, Ian Beaulieu and Cole McCraith, from grades 4, 5 and 6, qualified for the final round along with other students from 7th and 8th grade. Cole McCraith was the winner of this year's bee. Cole will receive a coat that states he is the 2017 National Geographic Bee Winner. He took an online test to see if he can compete at a higher level. The National Geographic Bee is sponsored by the National Geography Society to promote geography in schools.